Monmouth, Ocean police blotter

LAKEWOOD: Two men — one armed with a handgun — robbed a taxicab driver about 11:40 p.m. Thursday, the victim told Officer Michael Mooney shortly after the incident, Detective Sgt. Greg Staffordsmith said.

The victim, a 54-year-old Jackson man, told Mooney he had just picked up two men in the Wyndham Place South Townhouse Complex.

After entering the cab, one of the suspects said he needed to get something from inside his home. He got out of the cab and pulled out a handgun, opened the driver’s door and demanded the victim’s cash, Staffordsmith said. The gunman received a little over $100. Both suspects fled on foot into a wooded area.

The suspects are described as two black males, one 6-feet, 2-inches tall and wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt. The other was 5-feet, 7-inches tall and wore sunglasses, he said. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Jason Pederson at 732-363-0300, ext. 5348.

Margaret F. Bonafide

Explosives training to cause loud booms

COLTS NECK: Local residents living near Naval Weapons Station Earle should not be alarmed if they hear detonations next week, said military officials.

The station and the Transportation Security Administration will hold explosives and explosives-effects training starting Monday. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team periodically coordinates this and other types of explosive demolition training.

Margaret F. Bonafide

Man, 77, guilty of child sexual assault

TOMS RIVER: A 77-year-old Lacey man pleaded guilty Thursday in Superior Court, to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old child, according to a news release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a seven-year sentence with no early release for John J. Davin, convicted of first-degree aggravated sexual assault. Sentencing will occur after a mental evaluation.

The crime occurred in January 2013 in Lacey. Davin was arrested Jan. 25, 2013, and has been in the Ocean County Jail ever since.

Staff Report

Four injured in Belmar kitchen fire

BELMAR: Smoke inhalation from a sixth-floor fire sent the tenant and a police officer to the hospital, while two other officers were treated at the scene Thursday afternoon, Police Capt. Andrew Huisman said.

The kitchen fire was reported at 3:21 p.m. in an apartment at 1000 River Road, police said.